Falcon bikes - too many unknowns?

[Vlad in MI]

Hi! I'm genuinely interested in the Falcon bikes: either the 350 or the 1000 model. They both look wonderful, and there is the positive review of the 350 on this site. However, beyond that, information is hard to come by. For example: what with replacement parts - are they easy to order, arrive quickly? Is tech support available and how? Falcon appears to be a company located in China - no US presence - will this create a problem getting responses ? Is this legal in the US to ride a 1000 Watt bike that can go much faster than 20 miles an hour? (Not that I would want to go very fast - too many potholes here...) Is there a forum for Falcon owners, where I could find opinions of other people, and problems they encountered? The prices of both bikes seem attractive, but I am not willing to risk $2,000+ buying a bike on the basis of one review and a pretty incomplete info. Any advice will be much appreciated.

 

[Vlad in MI]

There is something strange about the Falcon bikes... The same bikes can be purchased from Hallomotor.com (with Falcon name on them...) at a huge discount. Although, to be fair, they appear to be 2015 models - if that matters. I'm starting to suspect that Falcon.com is just a re-seller of these bikes, with significant markup.

 

[Jim123]

1. Vlad, I saw video of Court interview Falcon bikes' engineer at Interbike 2015. Water cooled hub motors. Small ball bearings for way more torque efficiency. Those innovations had me excited about the offerings from Falcon. But the bikes look like they are very similar from previous years, no changes listed on the current offerings. If Falcon just resells the cheaper Chinese specificationed bikes, the chances are better that the Falcon models will have less defects. Michigan has a 100 cc Moped at 30 mph with street safety required, law. 100 cc from a 4 stroke regular gas motor, has it's power vary with the tech behind the motor, 5 to 7 horsepower. A 3000 watt electric should fit easily in the standard. But if your vehicle doesn't meet road riding safety standards(probably blinkers and all the other lights) Michigan won't issue a required license. According to Wikipedia. edit my post has the number 1 at the start. A strange typo I can't edit out.

 

[J.R.]

Hi! I'm genuinely interested in the Falcon bikes: either the 350 or the 1000 model. They both look wonderful, and there is the positive review of the 350 on this site. However, beyond that, information is hard to come by. For example: what with replacement parts - are they easy to order, arrive quickly? Is tech support available and how? Falcon appears to be a company located in China - no US presence - will this create a problem getting responses ? Is this legal in the US to ride a 1000 Watt bike that can go much faster than 20 miles an hour? (Not that I would want to go very fast - too many potholes here...) Is there a forum for Falcon owners, where I could find opinions of other people, and problems they encountered? The prices of both bikes seem attractive, but I am not willing to risk $2,000+ buying a bike on the basis of one review and a pretty incomplete info. Any advice will be much appreciated.

There are too many good ebikes, good ebike companies and more than a few good ebike dealers to buy a bike with this many unanswered questions. Bikes purchased from overseas can cost a lot for shipping and that shipping can take weeks if not months.

 

[Vlad in MI]

1. Vlad, I saw video of Court interview Falcon bikes' engineer at Interbike 2015. Water cooled hub motors. Small ball bearings for way more torque efficiency. Those innovations had me excited about the offerings from Falcon. But the bikes look like they are very similar from previous years, no changes listed on the current offerings. If Falcon just resells the cheaper Chinese specificationed bikes, the chances are better that the Falcon models will have less defects. Michigan has a 100 cc Moped at 30 mph with street safety required, law. 100 cc from a 4 stroke regular gas motor, has it's power vary with the tech behind the motor, 5 to 7 horsepower. A 3000 watt electric should fit easily in the standard. But if your vehicle doesn't meet road riding safety standards(probably blinkers and all the other lights) Michigan won't issue a required license. According to Wikipedia. edit my post has the number 1 at the start. A strange typo I can't edit out.

Thank you! This is helpful.

 

[Vlad in MI]

There are too many good ebikes, good ebike companies and more than a few good ebike dealers to buy a bike with this many unanswered questions. Bikes purchased from overseas can cost a lot for shipping and that shipping can take weeks if not months.

I agree. The competition in electric bikes is really heating up. Choices are more abundant than ever, and there are quite decent bikes below $2,300 (my self-imposed price limit). What attracted me to the Hallomotor bikes:

1. Price\value (perceived) ratio
2. Speed and power - unmatched in US or Canadian-made bikes
3. Light weight (for some - 45 lbs with battery!)
4. Quality components (at least judging from descriptions...)
5. Free shipping worldwide

According to some reports, Chinese manufacturers went through "quality revolution", and their products are much better than they used to be.